Flashing is a common problem for manufacturers of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical tablets. This article explains what causes flashing and provides measures you can take to prevent it.

This article discusses the value that an instrumented tablet press can provide during the research and development phase of a tablet manufacturing process.

Dixie Brands, Denver, CO, manufactures and distributes products infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). These products include several lines of mints, which must be manufactured to a specific target hardness to maintain structural integrity while remaining soft enough for consumers to chew. The machinery that Dixie had been using to manufacture the mints could not provide consistent tablet weight or hardness across product batches, resulting in overly soft, poor-quality tablets, so the company reached out to tableting equipment supplier, Elizabeth, for assistance.

This edition of Eye on Excipients discusses direct-compression tableting and describes the benefits and limitations of two direct-compression lubricants.

This article describes the benefits of liquid-filled hard-shell capsules for combination products, discusses the factors to consider during capsule selection, and provides examples of currently marketed combinations and potential candidates for development.

This article is the second in a two-part series discussing how blending practices can influence tablet compression. In part one (July 2019), the author explained how percolation of air entrapped in a formulation during blending influences material flow. Part two discusses how blending can influence tablet hardness.

Pack Expo Las Vegas—a trade show focused on the latest advances in packaging equipment, materials, and containers—will take place September 23 to 25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show is co-located with Healthcare Packaging Expo, and organizers expect more than 30,000 attendees and 2,000 suppliers from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and food and beverage industries.

Concern about microplastics has been growing for some time, particularly in Europe. Historically, microplastics contamination of the marine environment has been attributed to factors such as large plastic wastes, scrubbing agents in toiletries, tire erosion, and abrasion of synthetic textiles during washing. Pharmaceutical and excipient manufacturers generally haven’t viewed microplastics as an issue that would significantly impact medicinal products. That changed in January of this year when the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) issued a proposal to restrict the use of intentionally added microplastics (Annex XV Restriction Report).